After roughly several years of planning, discussions and revisions the city of Emporia approved the city’s new zoning regulations last week.
City Commissioner Jamie Sauder spoke with KVOE News recently saying the approval of the regulations was “long overdue.”
Overall, Sauder says there is not a great deal of deviation from the original regulations aside from the new codes being “more user-friendly.” Sauder adds the new regulations are meant to be able to support the comprehensive plan developed by Urban Collaborative back in 2018.
With that in mind, Sauder adds governing entities have to make sure they set goals that can be “lived up to, rather than being lofty.”
Sauder noted with the regulations now approved, the next big step for both the city and the county will be to implement a new interlocal agreement between the two.
Revision work on the regulations had been ongoing since 2019 and saw a brief pause last August by city commissioners in part to allow for an outside law firm to review the regulations and ensure they were meeting state legal requirements.
